Heritage Happy Hour

April 11, 2024: The Plough and the Stars, 116 Clement Street.

March 14, 2024: Doc’s Clock, 2417 Mission Street.

February 8, 2024: The Irish Bank, 10 Mark Lane.

January 11, 2024: Pop’s Bar, 2800 24th Street. Register for the free event here. From an underground bar in the 1930s, to an Irish post-World War II flyboy bar in the 1940s and 1950s, to a fixture of the Calle 24 cultural district in the present, Pop’s has served a range of Mission District communities over its history. A proud neighborhood “watering hole,” Pop’s opens at 6:00 AM for those working graveyard or odd-schedule jobs to decompress after a long night shift, and hosts popular weddings, memorial services, and other themed nights. Plus, great neon sign!

December 14, 2023: LiPo Lounge, 916 Grant Avenue. Register for the free event here.  From Atlas Obscura: Li Po is considered a dive bar, but one with a very distinct atmosphere and appearance. According to Trina Robbins, author of Forbidden City: The Golden Age of Chinese Nightclubs, Li Po is the only club that still looks like it did back in the day. In an interview with Collectors Weekly, she said, “Absolutely everything is the same as it was back in 1937 when it opened.” From the street, Li Po is recognizable for its cave-like entrance, where a set of red-lacquered double doors sit in a frame of rocks. Then there’s the 70-year-old neon lantern that hangs above the entrance, a rare hexagonal sign that appeared briefly in the 1947 film The Lady from Shanghai. For years, the iconic lantern was a flickering, dilapidated sight, befitting of Li Po’s dive bar status. But in 2018, a grant allowed Li Po to restore the neon lantern, which now shines bright red with clearly visible lettering.

November 9, 2023: Old Ship Saloon, 298 Pacific Avenue. Register for the free event here. The old pioneer ship Arkansas, which arrived in Yerba Buena in 1849, under command of Capt. W.W. Shepherd, and on which the United States Hotel on Pacific Street was built. The present building was rebuilt in 1907 by Henry Klee & Co. after incurring severe damage from the 1906 earthquake and fire, The interior was extensively remodeled and modernized in August of 1999 and reopened under the current moniker in September of the same year. One fact remains constant throughout history, the Old Ship has been a Saloon since 1851. The Old Ship Saloon is known for its cocktails and beer. It also serves pub grub.

October 12, 2023: Haas-Lilienthal House, 2007 Franklin St. In honor of spooky season, we are meeting at the luxurious Queen Anne-style Haas-Lilienthal House and Museum. The Haas–Lilienthal House is a historic building located at 2007 Franklin Street in San Francisco, California, United States, within the Pacific Heights neighborhood. Built in 1886 for William and Bertha Haas, it survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fire. The house is a San Francisco Designated Landmark and is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. It is the city’s only intact Victorian era home that is open regularly as a museum, complete with period furniture and artifacts. As of 2016, it received over 6,500 visitors annually.

Sept. 14, 2023: Buena Vista Cafe, 2765 Hyde Street. About the Buena Vista Cafe: “The original building where the Buena Vista sits today was a boardinghouse until 1916 when the landlord converted the first floor into a saloon. That saloon was named the Buena Vista. (“Good View” in Spanish) The view was good indeed and it served as a warm meeting place for hundreds of fishermen and handlers who worked for the nearby Sardine Cannery. There they could take in a whiskey while scouting the bay for incoming fishing boats which would mean, “Quick! Finish your drink and back to meet the boats!” In 1952, with the help of a Pulitzer-Prize winning writer, the Buena Vista introduced to the world it’s now famous Irish Coffee. The recipe has never changed and the view is still quite good.”

August 10, 2023: Bay View Boat Club, 489 Terry A. Francois Blvd. About Bay View Boat Club: “The Bay View has long-standing tradition of hospitality in the Bay Area community, as we blend boating with down-home food, live entertainment and local art. Our members have proven to be competitive in the Bay Area racing scene.”

July 13, 2023: Hockey Haven, 3625 Balboa Street. Hockey Haven is a neighborhood sports bar out in the Richmond District that has served San Francisco since 1949. The original owner was a French Canadian who played hockey for the New York Rangers, named Rene Trudell. He was married at the time to a woman named Hilda, and together they owned the bar for 40 years. His wife Hilda eventually took over the bar and owned it until 1989 when Josephine Burns bought the bar. Current owner Erin Massey, who came to Hockey Haven in 2001 and purchased the bar in 2018, is the third woman to own this thriving neighborhood space in its over 70 year history. Hockey Haven joined the #SFLegacyBiz Registry in 2019, one of only two legacy bars in the Richmond District (the other being The Plough and Stars).

June 8, 2023: Moby Dick, 4049 18th Street. Established in 1977, Moby Dick is one of the oldest gay bars in the Castro and an integral part of LGBTQ+ community history. Moby Dick is a place to meet up with old friends and meet new ones.

May 11, 2023: Anchor Brewing, 1705 Mariposa Street. Anchor Brewing is America’s first and oldest craft brewery. The rich history of Anchor can be traced all the way back to the California gold rush, when German brewer Gottlieb Brekle arrived in San Francisco with his family. Today, their beers are handmade from an all-malt mash in a traditional copper brewhouse. The process combines the time-honored art of classical craft brewing with carefully applied, state-of-the-art modern methods.

April 13, 2023: Caffe Trieste, 601 Vallejo Street. Caffe Trieste is a local coffee house and shop specializing in Italian-style espresso beverages and assorted traditional Italian snacks to the North Beach neighborhood. Caffe Trieste was established in 1956 as the first espresso coffee house on the west coast at the time. The café was founded by Giovanni Giotta who, after immigrating to the United States from Italy, missed the espresso houses of Italy and decided to open his own coffee house. Caffe Trieste is credited with igniting the “espresso movement.”  Extended hours for this event only 4-7 pm!

March 9, 2023: Uptown, 200 Capp Street in the Mission. Uptown is a community-centered and true neighborhood bar where you can go for good conversation, spirited debate, artistic expression, and fun. The bar opened in 1984 in a building that is believed to have housed a neighborhood bar continuously since its construction in 1910.

February 9, 2023: Zam Zam, 1633 Haight Street. Opened in 1941 by Assyrian-born Samson Mooshei as the “Persian Aub Zam Zam,” this cocktail lounge is known for its classic martinis and distinctive 1940s-era Persian Art Deco interior.

Stay tuned for more locations! We gather together on the Second Thursday of each month from 5-7 pm.

Interested in hosting Heritage Happy Hour at your Legacy Business? Please contact info@sfheritage.org for more information.